The ephemerality of the world

The ephemerality of the world, written in Nasta'liq script and produced in 16th or 17th-century Iran. (left vertical): Cha danad kasi ghayr-i parvardagar / Who knows except for God (right vertical): Mara bi-juz'-i tu dar hama-yi afaq yar nist / We have no other friend beside you in the whole world (with the missing subsequent verse from Firdawsi's "Shahnamah" (The Book of Kings): Dimensions of Written Surface: 8.7 (w) x 25.9 (h) cm Dunya guzaran u khud cha garmi az an / Aknun ka nasim-i sard piri-st vazan / Bar barg cha i'itimad u bar shakh-i darakht / Khasah vaqti ka mivazad bad-i khazan Each calligraphic panel is cut out and pasted on the black background, which is provided with a pink frame decorated with gold leaves. The composition is pasted to a larger white sheet of paper decorated with gold, blue, and red flowers and backed by cardboard. ka farda cha bezi kunad ruzagar / How the wind will play tomorrow The four horizontal verses inscribed in black nasta'liq script on the illuminated ground of the central panel also describe the impermanence of the world: The fragment is neither dated nor signed. However, it appears to have been produced in 16th or 17th-century Iran and placed later into an album (muraqqa') of calligraphies. The world passes and how engaged you are in it / Now that a cold breeze of old age blows / What trust in the leaf and the branch of the tree / Especially when the autumn wind (begins to) blow This calligraphic panel includes a number of verses describing the transience of worldly goods. Two lines of Arabic poetry appear in the upper horizontal panels, and two lines of Persian poetry frame the central text panel on the right and left vertical: Script: nasta'liq 1-87-154.143